PC4uMusic configuration can be useful even with a soundbar

An optimally configured PC for music playback will certainly work great with the legendary speaker, which is presented in the photo above by the Chicago-born son of a Warsaw tailor, the king of swing, Benjamin David "Benny" Goodman. American company JBL in 1957 introduced the forerunner of the passive soundbar under the name Paragon. Wikipedia provides its price: The JBL D44000 Paragon is a one-piece stereo loudspeaker created by JBL that was introduced in 1957 and discontinued in 1983; its production run was the longest of any JBL speaker. At its launch, the Paragon was the most expensive domestic loudspeaker on the market . It is not surprising that the soundbar is now heavily advertised with the JBL brand , which now belongs to Korean Samsung.

The name of the JBL company comes from the initials of its founder James Bullough Lansing (1902–1949), who provided sound for the first film in the history of cinema. The Wikipedia specifies: James Bullough Lansing (born James Martini, January 2, 1902 – September 29, 1949) was a pioneering American audio engineer and loudspeaker designer who was most notable for establishing two audio companies that bear his name, Altec Lansing and JBL, the latter taken from his initials, JBL. 

His surname is also associated with a brand that Wikipedia mentions in its soundbar information: Altec Lansing introduced a multichannel soundbar in 1998 called the Voice Of The Digital Theater or the ADA106. It was a powered speaker system that offered stereo, Dolby Pro-Logic and AC3 surround sound from the soundbar and a separate subwoofer. The soundbar housed four 3″ full range drivers and two 1″ tweeters while the subwoofer housed one 8″ dual voice coil driver. It used Altec Lansing's side-firing technology and algorithms to provide surround sound from the sides, rear and front. This configuration eliminated the wiring of separate speakers and the space they would require. In 1998, however, this brand was not in the Korean structure: In 1996, Altec Lansing Technologies Multimedia established an R&D center in Kfar Saba, Israel. The center, known as ALST Technical Excellence Center, cooperate with STMicroelectronics (ALST = Altec Lansing + STMicro) and focused on advanced multimedia technologies such as USB audio, surround sound and wireless audio awell as on handheld video. The center was closed in 2001.

Yamaha has the widest soundbar offer among Japanese manufacturers . Their designs in this area have been successfully developed for over 10 years. The flagship model is the YSP-5600 sound projector , which has received very positive international reviews. However, this is definitely an offer for home cinema on the RTV market and such an investment is not very practical in PC4uMusic configurations. 

The cheapest Yamaha SR-C20A model can be practical for playing music delivered in Internet streams from a laptop. However, every modern soundbar has limitations when playing music and when using it, it is better to choose music delivered in a higher quality stream. The optimal possibilities will be provided by connecting a simple cable with a mini-jack connector, if the laptop has more precise D/A processing to obtain a signal to drive electro-acoustic transducers.. 

The soundbar will work best when it receives an analog signal from the laptop processed from the digital with 32bi/192kHz oversampling, which will be provided by Windows Audio Session Application Programming Interface. In many different listening tests, the best quality was achieved with the free program AIMP

The active mono loudspeaker with a soundbar-like design appeared in the 1950s.  Swedish designer Stig Karlsson used electron tubes in it, but in the 1970s he offered his concepts in a pair of passive speakers as an orthoacoustic solution. American Bose also proposed similar solutions for stereo.

Spatial Dispersion is a modern solution that Bose offers musicians on stage and resembles a mono soundbar. This proprietary Bose technology delivers nearly 180 degrees of horizontal sound coverage. Sound remains consistent even at extreme sides of the system.This loudspeaker technology features six small drivers mounted at precise angles inside a slim, vertical enclosure. It's worked well with a laptop in the art café at the Rezydent Hotel in Sopot. The internet stream was converted in the laptop to an analog signal with 32bit/192kHz precision.

The music was to be played with active studio monitors for a group of listeners gathered on the mezzanine in this Sopot café. However, there was another solution with stage sound reinforcement, which was located one floor below, and thanks to this, the music sounded good throughout this place with exceptionally difficult acoustics. The mono solution worked here just as well as the modern concept with a soundbar in the RTV offer.

Such a modern concept of a passive soundbar for mono can be seen in the American offer with the XCS1.5K central speaker for 40 thousand dollars.  It is difficult to properly assess the value of this offer, because it is addressed to a very specific group of users, but their expectations will certainly be met by a complete home cinema set with this speaker.

An active stereo soundbar McIntosh RS 250 costs just 4 thousand euros and may be attractive to fans of this brand, but for others the real value of such an investment is no longer difficult to estimate.

 

The same manufacturer offers an active stereo soundbar for 2 thousand dollars with the Italian brand Sonus faber Omnia. This is also an investment for a special group, although the advertisement does not indicate this. It seemingly shows that it is for the average user, but in reality it is only a hint for wealthy investors that it is friendly to guests at the party and thus will impress the fair sex. Gentlemen are not interested, because they are supposed to be tempted by the blue VU indicators in the McIntosh.

The design on offer from the Italian brand may, however, be interesting with another practical solution for hanging it from the ceiling above the TV.

JBL L75 MS, which does not refer in appearance to the legendary studio monitors of this American brand from the 70s, is also presented in an impractical way in the advertising illustration, which clearly indicates that its manufacturer Samsung is completely focused on the RTV offer for ordinary sale in stores. 

The soundbar can be interestingly arranged with in-ear headphones. This topic is discussed in Ambiophony and Rendezvous on SR2 with Roger Moore. A small and simple soundbar of good quality at a moderate price is also used for the needs of special PC4uMusic configurations for a small group of listeners.

A practical solution may be for those who want to listen in small groups to the transmissions from the monthly poetry meetings in the Old Town Hall in Gdańsk. The audio-only stream is shared on Facebook for those using headphones and smartphones, but it is more enjoyable to listen to poetry with musical accents even with an all-in-one PC from Hewlett-Packard, which has speakers built into the monitor. The same is true for televisions, which already have built-in computers and can optimally adjust the sound. This is not practical enough for home meetings in small groups. 

 

The smartphone can be easily connected to the soundbar, which will allow for pleasant listening in a smaller group at someone's home. The soundbar, available for 200 euros and with a power of 100 W, will handle this 100%. In this case, a digital connection may be beneficial to optimally play the sound shared by Facebook. A soundbar connected to PC will work even better.

For meetings in public places, a solution such as the Bose's L1 will work well with both a phone and a laptop. They are similar with many brands, and the cheapest is around 400 euros. Yamaha has STAGEPAS 1K mkII Portable PA System for 3 times more, but it has a power of over 1kW, which provides up to 125 dB SPL, so there is a large margin to hear the details well without setting the volume to maximum, which distorts the sound. PC will provide even better quality.

 

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